Procrastinators raced to finish shopping

VISTA -- While it has been said that slow but steady wins the
race, the adage may not have applied to the race for seasonal
merchandise in the last hours before Christmas arrived.

If crowds that hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving were
any evidence, some shoppers plan their holiday shopping weeks in
advance, but this week's retail activity brought another holiday
revelation to light: an equal number of procrastinators were in
abundance.

Of course, a late-week foray into the consumer world was not for
the faint of heart.

At the North County Square shopping center in Vista on Friday,
streams of traffic flowed steadily into the parking lot from the
earliest hours of the morning, as tardy shoppers vied for parking
spots and scarce merchandise the day before Christmas.

Beginning at 8 a.m., some 60 shoppers shuffled through the doors
at KB Toys each hour, considerably more than a typical day,
according to Katherine Nider, the store's manager.

Although the toy store will be closing next month and was
offering up to 40 percent discounts on all its merchandise,
customer Tony Luna said it was not the sale that brought him to the
shopping center, but a persistent bad habit.

"I'm a procrastinator," said the 43-year-old Vista resident,
whose cart was brimming with bikes, tool sets and other goodies for
his nieces and nephews, in preparation for the big celebration
today at grandma's house.

"You usually find better deals at the last minute, but that
works out for me because I'm too busy before," said Luna, who works
two jobs.

Though the Friday rush was maddening, the frenzy started a bit
earlier in the week.

Vista's Costco parking lot was beyond capacity Thursday, with
some frustrated last-minute shoppers parking on landscaping and in
fire lanes.

"It's gotten way too crazy," said store employee Chauncey
Sumlin, who was hired at Thanksgiving for the holiday season. "We
have some creative customers here at Costco, and I've seen people
create their own parking spaces and make upside-down corrals for
the shopping carts."

In fact, the line to get out of the store was longer than
checkout lines.

"Oh, we were foolish," said Vista resident Mary Alger of her
Thursday trip to Costco. "When we pulled into the parking lot, I
asked my family, are we sure we want to do this?"

The door count at Costco on Thursday reached more than 300
people every half-hour, a number of shoppers likely to grow on
Christmas Eve, predicted employee Diana Rodrigo.

"It's a lot of the men who wait until the last minute, then come
running in," Rodrigo said. "Jewelry, electronics and CDs are the
really popular gifts, and before the end of the day, we're out of
hams and turkeys people want for holiday dinners."

Some male shoppers, however, simply stumbled into shopping for
presents late in the week.

"I really just came in for groceries and food from the holiday
weekend, Christmas dinner and when I got in here, I realized I
could pick up a quick gift," said Alex Verduci, an attorney in the
city who was selecting a video game for a co-worker's children.
"It's really by accident that I'm Christmas shopping right now.
After 35 years of training from my wife, I know better."

Vista city officials said that, last-minute or not, holiday
shopping usually provides a boost for city revenues.

"From a sales tax perspective, the fourth quarter is always the
busiest time for a lot of general merchandise, which means places
like Target and Wal-Mart," said Vista's Assistant City Manager Rick
Dudley on Thursday. "By my observation, it's been pretty
steady."

Despite the swarms of people and a looming deadline, the
spending frenzy left some Friday shoppers unfazed.

"I think most people really try to do too much," said Rich
Fairchild, 39, as he loaded his trunk up with stocking stuffers
before heading home to spend the day with his sons.

"They worry they haven't got enough for everybody. But the
reality is, it always ends up all right."